batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l25113-l25238
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l25113-l25238
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
passage_locator:
label: PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. /
PREFACE; lines 25113-25238
start: '25113'
end: '25238'
translation: The Koran (Al-Qur'an), Rodwell
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage gives communal instructions to believers: heed God and His
Apostle, reconcile fighting believers, avoid mockery, suspicion, prying, and backbiting,
recognize that peoples and tribes were created for mutual knowledge, and distinguish
outward profession from sincere faith. It then opens Sura IX with an immunity
or declaration concerning treaty relations with polytheist Arabs, including a
four-month period, exceptions for upheld treaties, commands after the sacred months,
and asylum for one who asks to hear the Word of God.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: An Apostle of God is said to be among the addressed community, and God is
said to have made faith favored in their hearts and unbelief, wickedness, and
disobedience hateful to them.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: If two bodies of the faithful are at war, the addressed community is instructed
to make peace between them and to fight the wronging party until it returns to
the precepts of God.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The faithful are described as brethren, and the addressed community is told
to make peace between brethren.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Believing men and women are told not to mock, defame, or call one another
by nicknames.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Believers are told to avoid frequent suspicions, not to pry, and not to traduce
one another in absence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Backbiting is represented through the question of whether one would like to
eat the flesh of a dead brother, which the passage says would be loathed.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Human beings are said to have been created from a male and a female and divided
into peoples and tribes so that they might know one another.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The most honored person in God's sight is said to be the one who fears Him
most.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The desert Arabs are reported as saying that they believe, but the reply says
they should say they profess Islam because faith has not yet entered their hearts.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: True believers are defined as those who believe in God and His Apostle, do
not doubt, and contend with their substance and persons on the path of God.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: God is described as knowing whatever is in the heavens and on the earth and
knowing the secrets of both.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: An immunity or declaration from God and His Apostle is announced concerning
those in league with the polytheist Arabs.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:13
text: The polytheist Arabs addressed by the immunity are told to go at large in
the land for four months, while being warned that they will not weaken God.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:14
text: A proclamation on the day of the greater pilgrimage states that God and His
Apostle are free from engagement with votaries of other gods, while urging turning
to God and warning of punishment for unbelief.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:15
text: Those polytheists who have not failed the treaty or aided anyone against the
believers are excepted, and their engagement is to be observed through the whole
time of the treaty.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:16
text: After the sacred months are passed, the addressed community is told to fight,
seize, besiege, and ambush those who join other gods with God, but to let them
go if they convert, pray, and pay obligatory alms.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:17
text: If one of those who join gods with God asks asylum, the addressee is told
to grant asylum so that he may hear the Word of God and then reach a place of
safety.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: obs:18
text: A league with those who add gods to God is recognized for those with whom
a league was made at the sacred temple, and reciprocal faithfulness is commanded
so long as they are true.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: God
description: Divine authority described as guiding, knowing, loving impartiality
and piety, turning mercifully, issuing immunity, and being party to proclaimed
disengagements and treaties.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:15
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Apostle of God
description: The Apostle is said to be among the believers and is paired with God
as one to be obeyed and as issuer of the immunity or proclamation.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: The faithful / believers
description: The addressed community, described as brethren, instructed in reconciliation,
restraint of speech, avoidance of suspicion, and fear of God.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Two bodies of the faithful at war
description: Two groups of faithful persons who may be at war and are to be reconciled.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: The wronging party among the faithful
description: One of the two groups that wrongs the other and is to be fought until
it returns to the precepts of God.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Desert Arabs
description: A group who say, 'We believe,' but are told instead to say they profess
Islam because faith has not yet entered their hearts.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: True believers
description: Those who believe in God and His Apostle, do not doubt, and contend
with their substance and persons on the path of God.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Polytheist Arabs / those who join gods with God
description: The group named as treaty partners, targets of the immunity, possible
opponents after the sacred months, and possible asylum seekers.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- ev:15
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Asylum seeker from those who join gods with God
description: An individual from the polytheist group who asks asylum and is to be
protected to hear the Word of God and reach safety.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
roles:
- id: role:1
label: divine authority and knower
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: God is repeatedly described as knowing, guiding, commanding, loving impartiality
or piety, and issuing immunity or proclamation with His Apostle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:2
label: apostolic representative
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The Apostle is present among the believers, to be obeyed, and paired with
God in public proclamation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:3
label: covenant-like moral community of brethren
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The faithful are called brethren and commanded to make peace, avoid injurious
conduct, and fear God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: internal disputants
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Two bodies of the faithful are described as being at war and needing peacemaking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: wronging faction
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: One party may wrong the other and is to be fought until returning to God's
precepts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: outward professors of Islam
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: They say they believe but are corrected to say they profess Islam, since
faith is not yet in their hearts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: sincere believers
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: They are defined by belief, absence of doubt, and striving with possessions
and persons on God's path.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:8
label: treaty partner and religious other
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: They are described as those in league, those from whom immunity is announced,
and those subject to conditions after the sacred months.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:15
- id: role:9
label: protected seeker of asylum
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: One who asks asylum is to receive it, hear the Word of God, and reach safety.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: dead brother's flesh
literal_form: the flesh of a dead brother
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: heart as site of faith
literal_form: hearts in which faith is endeared or into which faith has not yet
found its way
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: peoples and tribes
literal_form: division of humans into peoples and tribes
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:4
label: four-month interval
literal_form: four months during which the addressed polytheists may go at large
in the land
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:5
label: sacred months
literal_form: the sacred months after which a new course of action is commanded
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: sym:6
label: greater pilgrimage
literal_form: the day of the greater pilgrimage as the occasion of proclamation
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:7
label: sacred temple
literal_form: the sacred temple where a league had been made
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Guidance and communal discipline among believers
summary: The passage states that the Apostle is among the community, that God has
endeared faith to them, and that they should not give way to conduct leading to
guilt.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Peacemaking between fighting believers
summary: If two faithful groups fight, the community is to reconcile them; if one
wrongs the other, it is to be fought until returning to God's precepts, after
which fair and impartial peace is commanded.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Prohibition of social injury
summary: Believers are told not to mock, defame, use nicknames, suspect, pry, or
backbite, and backbiting is illustrated with the loathed image of eating a dead
brother's flesh.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Human diversity and honor by piety
summary: Humans are said to be created from male and female and divided into peoples
and tribes for mutual knowledge; honor before God is measured by fear of God.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:5
label: Profession of Islam contrasted with inward faith
summary: Desert Arabs who say they believe are told to say they profess Islam, because
faith has not entered their hearts; sincere believers are then defined by belief,
absence of doubt, and striving.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:6
label: Immunity and public proclamation concerning treaty relations
summary: A declaration from God and His Apostle announces immunity concerning those
in league among the polytheist Arabs, gives a four-month interval, and proclaims
on the greater pilgrimage that God and His Apostle are free from engagement with
votaries of other gods.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: scene:7
label: Treaty exceptions and reciprocal faithfulness
summary: Treaties with polytheists who have not failed the believers or aided others
against them are to be observed for their full term, and leagues made at the sacred
temple are to be honored so long as the other party remains true.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:15
- id: scene:8
label: After the sacred months and asylum for a seeker
summary: After the sacred months, commands are given against those who join gods
with God, with release if they convert, pray, and give alms; an individual who
asks asylum is to be protected to hear the Word of God and reach safety.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- ev:14
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Peacemaking between brethren after internal conflict
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The faithful are called brethren, and the community is commanded to reconcile
fighting faithful groups with fairness and impartiality.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: This is primarily legal-ethical instruction rather than a narrative myth
episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Backbiting figured as eating a dead brother
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage uses the image of eating a dead brother's flesh to characterize
traducing another in his absence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the image rhetorically; no literal cannibalistic
event is narrated.
- id: motif:3
label: Human diversity ordered toward mutual knowledge
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Creation from male and female and division into peoples and tribes is explained
as enabling knowledge of one another, with honor tied to fear of God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy link to wisdom is thematic and should be reviewed; the passage
is not a wisdom tale.
- id: motif:4
label: Outward profession contrasted with inward faith
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The desert Arabs' claim to believe is corrected to profession of Islam because
faith has not entered their hearts, while true believers are defined separately.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: This is doctrinal and ethical classification, not a developed narrative
motif.
- id: motif:5
label: Treaty observance, annulment, and reciprocal obligation
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: The opening of Sura IX concerns league, immunity, proclamation of disengagement,
exceptions for treaty partners who remain faithful, and reciprocal truthfulness
at the sacred temple.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:15
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses terms such as league, engagement, and treaty rather than
the English word covenant in the quoted translation.
- id: motif:6
label: Divine warning and punishment for unbelief
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The passage warns that unbelievers will be put to shame and announces grievous
punishment to those who do not turn to God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The excerpt states warning and punishment but does not narrate the punishment's
execution.
- id: motif:7
label: Protected asylum for one seeking divine word
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: A member of the polytheist group who asks asylum is to be granted asylum,
hear the Word of God, and be brought to safety.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
confidence: high
cautions: This is a legal-protective instruction rather than a mythic rescue narrative.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 25113-25119
quote_or_summary: The Apostle of God is among the community; God has endeared faith
in their hearts and made unbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 25121-25125
quote_or_summary: If two bodies of the faithful are at war, the community is to
make peace; if one wrongs the other, it is to fight that party until it returns
to God's precepts, then make fair and impartial peace.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 25127-25128
quote_or_summary: "“Only the faithful are brethren; wherefore make peace between
your brethren.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 25130-25134
quote_or_summary: Believing men and women are told not to laugh one another to scorn,
defame one another, or call one another by nicknames.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 25136-25139
quote_or_summary: Believers are told to avoid frequent suspicions, not to pry, and
not to traduce one another in absence; the passage asks whether one would like
to eat the flesh of a dead brother and says this would be loathed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 25141-25144
quote_or_summary: Humans are created from a male and female and divided into peoples
and tribes so they might know one another; the most honored before God is the
one who fears Him most.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 25146-25149
quote_or_summary: The desert Arabs say they believe; the reply says they should
say they profess Islam because faith has not entered their hearts, and obedience
to God and His Apostle will not be unrewarded.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 25151-25153
quote_or_summary: True believers believe in God and His Apostle, do not doubt, and
contend with their substance and persons on the path of God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 25155-25163
quote_or_summary: God is said to know whatever is in the heavens and on the earth,
to know all things, to know the secrets of the heavens and earth, and to behold
what people do.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: An immunity from God and His Apostle is announced to those in
league among the polytheist Arabs; they are told to go at large in the land four
months and warned they cannot weaken God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: A proclamation on the day of the greater pilgrimage says God and
His Apostle are free from engagement with votaries of other gods, urges turning
to God, and announces grievous punishment for unbelief.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: Polytheists who are in league, have not failed the believers,
and have not aided anyone against them are excepted; their engagement is to be
observed through the treaty term.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: When the sacred months are past, those who join gods with God
are to be killed, seized, besieged, and ambushed, but if they convert, pray, and
pay obligatory alms, they are to be let go.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: If one of those who join gods with God asks asylum, the addressee
is to grant it so he may hear the Word of God and then reach his place of safety.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: within lines 25113-25238, Sura IX opening
quote_or_summary: Those who add gods to God are not to be in league with God and
His Apostle except those with whom a league was made at the sacred temple; so
long as they are true, the believers are to be true to them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source text supplied in request.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: The passage is primarily legal, ethical, and communal instruction rather
than narrative mythology. Motif candidates identify recurring symbolic or structural
patterns but require human review for Atlas taxonomy fit.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
No external comparisons were added because the supplied passage itself does not provide a comparison to another tradition or corpus.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg__l25113-l25238
passage_sha256=af525ef25ea1a23acaec4ac165b3bacbe3e8838e9481df199eb0a6476535d314